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Elf
One Christmas, during a stop at an orphanage, a male infant named Buddy, captivated by the sight of a teddy bear, crawls into Santa Claus's (Edward Asner) sack of gifts while he is delivering toys on Christmas Eve. Santa Claus unknowingly takes Buddy back to the North Pole, where Papa Elf volunteers to raise him. Buddy (Will Ferrell) grows up into physical adulthood in the North Pole and is unaware that despite his many differences he is a human. Papa Elf (Bob Newhart) makes him his apprentice and explains that he repairs the "Kringle 3000, 500 Reindeer-Power" jet engine on Santa's sleigh, which he invented when the Christmas spirit that powers the sleigh started declining after people started to stop believing in Santa Claus, forcing him to build the engine to assist Santa. Due to his being a human in an environment designed for the North Pole elves, Buddy is uncomfortably bigger than the elves, and is unable to use the items utilized by them. His toy making skills are comparatively inferior and he is unable to keep up with the elves' high quotas, and despite the elves' assurances that he's just "special", is demoted to a demeaning job testing the toys the elves make. While working, he overhears a conversation where another elf reveals that Buddy is a human. Papa Elf reveals that Buddy was born to Walter Hobbs (James Caan) and Susan Wells and given up for adoption, and that Walter never knew of his existence. He explains how Susan later died and that Walter now works at a children's book company in New York City. Buddy is convinced by Leon the Snowman (Leon Redbone) to go to New York City and find his father. Buddy sets out for a long trip to New York City to track down his father. Prior to leaving, Santa advises him that New York is not as innocent as Leon implies, and that his father is on the naughty list. Upon arrival at New York City, Buddy finds his father in his office in the Empire State Building. Walter Hobbs initially lets him in, despite thinking Buddy is sending him a Christmas gram. As a result, he incredulously calls security on him when he mentions Susan Wells. During the exile, the guards advise him to go back to Gimbels, where he is mistaken for an employee,and eventually meets Jovie (Zooey Deschanel), a Gimbels employee whom he falls in love with. During the store's closure, Buddy elaborately decorates the sales displays with a Lego model of the New York skyline, to everyone's astonishment the next morning. When the department store Santa arrives that day to meet children, Buddy is shocked to discover that he is not the genuine Santa he knows, causing the two to escalate into chaos after Buddy rips off the man's fake beard. He is arrested and then subsequently turns himself into jail. When Walter bails Buddy out, he takes him to a pediatrician (Jon Favreau) for a DNA test to find out that he is in fact Walter's son. Once proven, he takes him home to meet his stepmother, Emily (Mary Steenburgen) and 12-year-old half-brother named Michael (Daniel Tay). Buddy confounds the family by his childlike enthusiasm, eccentric food tastes and dining deportment, and insistence that he actually walked from the North Pole. Buddy becomes friends with Michael after helping him defeat bullies in a snowball fight in Central Park, and Michael helps Buddy ask Jovie out on a date. Walter, meanwhile, finds out his business is in trouble after publishing the flop "The Puppy and the Pigeon" with two missing pages. Buddy gets a job in the Empire State Building mail room while going to work with Walter. Unfortunately, he accidentally becomes tipsy on the first day after mistaking the alcohol his coworker was putting in his coffee for syrup. He goes on a date with Jovie and is able to win her over with his childlike enthusiasm. In an effort to save his company, Walter decides to hire the temperamental bestselling children's writer Miles Finch (Peter Dinklage) in search of new ideas for children's literature. After Finch arrives, Buddy bursts into the conference room to tell Walter about his newfound love and mistakes Finch for an elf because of his dwarfism. When Buddy questions a visibly annoyed Finch about how he managed to leave the North Pole, Finch loses his temper causing Buddy to dub him an "angry elf". Finch attacks Buddy and storms out without signing a deal with Walter's company. Walter wants nothing to do with Buddy after the incident and yells at him to leave forever. Heartbroken, Buddy writes an Etch A Sketch message to his father and runs away. After Buddy leaves, Walter's associates find that Finch left a notebook filled with ideas behind, saving his pitch. Michael reads Buddy's message and bursts in on Walter's board meeting to frantically inform him that Buddy is gone. He manages to convince Walter to put his family above his job for the first time, despite getting fired. Walter quits his job and he and Michael leave to find Buddy. Meanwhile, Buddy sees Santa's sleigh crash in Central Park. He finds Santa, who explains that he lost the sleigh's engine, and that the last bit of Christmas spirit had faded as well. Walter and Michael then encounter Buddy in Central Park, where Walter apologizes to Buddy for his behavior and accepts him as his son. Buddy takes them to meet Santa, who reveals to Michael that believing in him can make his sleigh fly. Michael reads Santa's list in front of TV cameras gathered outside the park, so that people all across New York City believe in him. The Central Park Rangers begin to chase his sleigh while Buddy is still trying to reattach the engine. Jovie manages to overcome her shyness and get the sleigh back in the air by the power of Christmas spirit when she leads the crowd of people in singing "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" on live TV, recalling what Buddy said, that "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is to sing loud for everyone to hear". Santa is still barely unable to fully power the sleigh. Walter, who was mouthing the words, is convinced by Michael to overcome his lack of Christmas spirit and starts singing for real, allowing the sleigh enough power to fly higher and save Christmas. By the next Christmas, Walter starts his own publishing company with the first best-selling book released titled Elf, an account of Buddy's adventures written and illustrated by Buddy Hobbs himself. Sometime later, Buddy and Jovie are married and have a daughter named Susie, who is named after Buddy's now-deceased biological mother. During the film's closure, the family visits Papa Elf at the North Pole. CastEdit Will Ferrell as Buddy Hobbs